Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicle wheel axle that includes an aperture and/or relief therein to provide clearance for a corresponding spoke to be assembled with a corresponding hub flange. It is preferred that the spoke may remain straight and un-bent during this assembly. The lack of such an aperture and/or relief would require that the spoke be bent or otherwise significantly deformed in order to achieve this assembly.
Description of the Related Art
Heretofore, bicycle wheel hub assemblies that utilize straight pull spokes have resorted to a variety of prior art configurations that are undesirably compromised in terms of structural efficiency, excessive weight, and/or complexity of design, in an effort to allow the spoke to be assembled to the hub flange.
One such compromise is to utilize open slots of the hub flange to receive the spokes instead of enclosed holes. These designs require the use of an additional secondary retaining means to insure that the spoke remains engaged to its associated open slot and is not inadvertently ejected therefrom due to de-tensioning of the spoke, which commonly occurs due to the wheel hitting an obstruction in its path and/or due to a broken spoke. If the spoke becomes disengaged, the structural integrity and trueness of the wheel is compromised. Further, this open slot design cannot support as high a spoke tension load as an enclosed hole, since the open slot geometry only hooks and engages the spoke head at two laterally opposing locations and does not engage the full circular perimeter of the transition surface of the spoke head. To compensate for this limited engagement area provided by the open slot, the hub flange must be made thicker and stronger, which adds significant weight and cost to the hub flange.
A second such compromise is to utilize enclosed spoke holes, but then require that the axle be extracted and removed from the hub shell in order to assemble the spoke to the spoke hole. Particularly since the bearings are usually a press fit with the hub shell, which must be disassembled for spoke replacement, this additional step adds excessive labor and cost to the process of assembling and/or disassembling the spoke from the spoke hole. Further, due to the requisite complexity of this process, field replacement of a spoke becomes something that can only be achieved by an experienced mechanic and is not a procedure that can be performed by most lay-users.
A third such compromise is to significantly limit the axially outward distance that the collar of the axle protrudes from the bearing. While this reduced protrusion distance may provide the clearance required to assemble the spoke through an enclosed spoke hole (with the axlecap temporarily removed), this reduced distance also corresponds to a reduced axial overlap with the axle cap. This reduced axial overlap provides much reduced piloting and alignment between the collar portion of the axle and the axlecap, which serves to weaken this connection and permits the axlecap to become more easily dislodged due to radial loading on the wheel, etc.
A fourth such compromise is to place the axially overlapping sleeved engagement between the axle and axlecap at a location axially inboard of the bearing. While this axially inboard engagement may provide the clearance required to assemble the spoke through an enclosed spoke hole (with the axlecap temporarily removed), this axially inboard location also increases the stress on this sleeved engagement (due to lateral and radial loads on the wheel) in comparison with an axially outboard sleeved engagement. As an attempt to compensate for this increased stress, the axle and axlecap must be made thicker and stronger, which adds significant weight and cost to the hub flange.
Accordingly, it is an objective of the present invention to overcome the forgoing compromises and disadvantages and to provide a hub arrangement that is lightweight, strong, and inexpensive to produce.
It is an additional object of the present invention to permit assembly of the spoke to the hub flange to minimize or eliminate deformation of the spoke as it is assembled to the hub flange of a hub shell.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a hub assembly that permits the assembly of the spoke to the hub flange that includes enclosed spoke holes for greater strength and lighter weight.
Still further, it is an object of the present invention to provide a hub assembly where the spoke may be assembled and/or disassembled from the hub flange with the axle remaining assembled to the hub assembly and without requiring that the axle be first disassembled from the hub assembly.
Yet further, it is an object of the present invention to provide a hub assembly where the collar portion of that axle protrudes axially outwardly from the bearing and that this axial outward protrusion distance provides sufficient axial overlapping engagement with the axlecap to provide a robust connection therebetween. This axial overlap provides requisite piloting and alignment of the axlecap and has the requisite bending moment strength to support loads that the bicycle wheel may be subject to.
Further objects and advantages of the present invention will appear hereinbelow.